My little ways of escape

Feb 11, 2017Feb 12, 2017

A taste of Greece

So, let’s face it. When you think of Greece, your mind begins to fill up in different shades of blue: from its flag to the sea. Not to mention the sky that somewhat appears to be bluer than where you’re coming from. And of course, for most, the beautiful roofs of Santorini makes its way to the top of the list. Point is, you just want to be in Greece and everything is pulling you towards it. However, it’s estimated that there are 6,000 islands overall (227 inhabited). So, how do you choose?

It’s tough to want to go everywhere but can only choose one. But then again, if these are the types of decisions you have to be making then you’re in a good place and have a lot to be thankful for already 🙏.

Naturally, we’ll all, more likely than not, choose Santorini straight up. But the cost of it had me looking left to right checking if someone saw me force myself to forget about it 😂.

Having said that, I still wanted a taste of that good good so I went ahead and did some research. At the time (April), I think flights to Chania in the island of Crete were the cheapest which was just under £135 (£67 pp return) with Ryanair. There were also a lot of amazing yet affordable accommodations so I went ahead with it.

The trip was in celebration of me and my then boyfriend’s anniversary (more accurately ‘monthsary’ for us Filipinos) so I chose a gorgeous studio complete with a sea view balcony at Corinna Mare (via Expedia.com) which cost 180 Euros (£140 then) coming to £70pp for 3 nights which is an absolute bargain especially in comparison to a basic B&B we’ve once stayed at closer to home for £50 a night. Corinna Mare had an onsite restaurant called Corinna Star which is rated #1 in Chania Town according to TripAdvisor. This is for good reason: the food was delicious and affordable (from memory, I believe it was around £10-£15 for a 3 course meal) and we stuffed our faces for sure. Who can really blame us for doing so though? The pictures you can see below is only showing some of them; it got to the point I would fail to contain myself and forget about the picture-taking. Haha. Rest assured, they are lovingly stored in my food memory.

Observations/Notes:

Chania is an absolute Paradise. Honestly.

The food is something I would go back solely for (Corinna Star specifically). I found it THAT good. I mean, the seafood is so fresh that if you give them enough notice, they’ll have it caught for you and you can witness them taking it out of the water. Are you getting me here?

Greeks are friendly, very helpful and speak English well. One cab driver switched up the station for us and put it on one which was playing “Sweat” by Inner Circle (Real MVP) and another made an extra stop so we can withdraw cash.

The beginning of April had a varying weather. During the day, it was hot but at some point it got windy and chilly. Some evenings we saw heavy rain. Also, the water was cold (I braved it for the pics). So maybe go when it’s hotter so you get to immerse yourself in the clear waters.

Verdict: Need I say it? (I will anyway)

As well as island hopping, I’d still also want to return to the exact same place. You get the best of both worlds: you can walk endlessly either side and see beach after beach yet if you’d prefer to go shopping you can easily hit the town.

I know about the ‘endlessly walking and seeing beach after beach’ bit because we did just that. We walked for hours to check out a Reggae pub.

It was closed. We then walked back. But, with the below as views? I’m not complaining.